Academy Life [1]

Still sitting in a bed at the infirmary, I was currently looking up to a big, blonde puppy-like creature. With his imaginary tail waving, he was currently waiting for me to tell him about my current condition.

Just a bit earlier he had been running in with a concerned face, creating a cue for the gorilla to make his exit. Before he left, he had told me to come by his office when I felt a bit better, no matter the time. As he passed James, he put his hand on his shoulder and whispered a couple of words. Unfortunately for him, it was still loud enough for me to overhear.

"-Remember, don't let him know about yesterday. He has enough things to worry about as it is."

James responded with a slight nod and made his way to a chair by my side.

"I'm fine. Just a bit dizzy."

With a curt answer, I could see his body start to relax a bit.

"Great! After what happened yesterday I thought you would be feeling hell right now! I mean it was crazy when you..."

As he started talking about the thing he just promised Mike not to do, he caught himself and froze.

'Is he an idiot?'

With a rude thought I scanned James, who was sweating bullets, his body screaming and projecting the words:

'I FUCKED UP!'

*Hrmm!*

Clearing his throat, the young man resolved himself to try to save the situation.

"It was crazy that you just suddenly fainted, with nothing else happening and nothing weird occurring!"

'Nice save...'

I played along for a bit, as to not create a situation where I would lose the person who still seemed to care about me, for no apparent reason. Even if it was weird that he seemed to regard me as something like a little brother, having only met me two days ago, it did feel good to have a person care about me. Not to mention how secure I would be in the future if he actively tried to keep me safe...

"Yea, teacher told me about it. I can't believe I just passed out like that. I guess the other students don't want to get involved with me anymore, after having seen both my status and my fragile mental state..."

Still sweating like a pig, his stiff expression switched to one of pity and a bit of sorrow.

'Spot on huh? I wonder if Sarah and Brad will talk to me again, or if they will avoid me?

"Don't mind what they said at the measuring facility, they were just a bit surprised and caught off guard. Even if your mana grade is a bit weak and your... Hrmm! Your speed is amazing! You might have the biggest talent for speed in the world!

....

'My what is what? Did he think I would faint again if he mentioned my nonexistent, less than a 10-year-old, disgustingly weak and pathetic strength?'

As I was inwardly berating myself, he continued.

"No matter what, you are a student of A-class! You should be proud that you got recognized for your talents by the principal and the other teachers. I guess you must've made a huge impression during the entrance exam!"

'I wonder what he would say if I told him I was only here because some of the instructors wanted me to fail and, with that, obtaining an excuse to transfer me to a lower academy.'

Slowly, I answered him, trying to keep my words vague for him not to find out too much about my situation.

"Well... I didn't take the exam. In fact, I got automatically accepted here on the day I turned 16. So I don't think I made a great impression on anyone, maybe excluding the principal, but we only talked once so I don't believe so either."

'That should be enough for him to believe that I probably only got in through connections, not because of the principal's clairvoyance.'

The hero's eyes widened, and a look of what looked like a mix of surprise, as well as awe, got planted on his face.

"Amazing! Doesn't that mean you are a prodigy?! Not even having to take the entrance exam, do you have some kind of unique battle art or something?"

*Fuuuee*

With a sigh, I felt my vigor leaving me because of the huge misunderstanding.

'Guess not...'

With an exalted appearance, he suddenly made the mistake of not stopping to speak.

"Or maybe you have an extremely rare 'Inherent Disposition'? Is that the reason why your mana started to rampage yesterday?!"

As he intensely gazed at me with a huge smile, at this point even holding my hand, he froze once more. Realizing he fucked up again, his bright smile slowly started to crumble, and the waterfall on his forehead started to pour.

'My mana rampaged...? I knew something happened, but that means that the surge of power I felt was real?'

Thinking this, I brought out my status in an attempt to find out if there was something I had somehow overlooked.

===Status===

Name: Miren Porter

Rank: II

Strength: I

Speed: VII

Stamina: III

Intelligence: III

Mana grade: II [Lower]

Charm:?

--> Inherent Disposition : [Boundless]

--> Battle Arts: [Overclock]

-Martial Techniques: [Lightning Step]

--> Elemental affinities: [Lightning]

==========

Looking at my status, my brain quickly got to work, firing on all cylinders.

'I awakened a [Battle art]?! I know I didn't have one before we went to measuring our statuses, so it must've been awakened during the recording? '

[Overclocking]

Description: Battle Art. Forcibly opens the body's mana receptors and absorbs energy from one's surroundings. By doing this the user's body will emulate higher mana grades, sacrificing life-force equivalent to the mana absorbed. Users can learn Martial Techniques corresponding to their elemental affinities.

'[Overclocking]... seems to be body-centered art. So I can supposedly take in mana in the air in order to surpass the limits of my body? As the mana grade has a multiplicative effect on the stats, this should make my speed shine even more and possibly make my lightning strong enough to enable me offensively.'

Collecting my thoughts around the Battle Art I had somehow obtained, I felt quite content.

'Although I can't say I'm too fond of sacrificing my health, this seems incredibly strong!'

With my mind continuing to break down information, I started to try to evaluate the accompanying Martial Technique.

[Lightning Step rank II]

Description: Infuse your legs with lightning energy to execute instantaneous movements. This move can be used in the air (2) times. The number of consecutive steps and distance is relative to mana grade rank. [Lightning Step] puts the user's legs under extreme stress, injuring them in the process. Excessive usage will lead to permanent damage.

'Hmm, seems powerful... Even if I am already fast, it's not like I can move quick enough to elude someone's eyes yet. Although I don't know exactly what instantaneous movements imply... Something like a short-range teleport or a Blink in game terms? This move can be used in the air...?!'

My eyebrows rose as I understood what this would mean for me in the future.

'I can walk in the air! Is this because wind is part of lightning? Either way, I'M GOING TO BE ABLE TO(not really)FLY!'

At the same time as some stupid thoughts conquered my mind, my brain still compiled all of the information and led me to a conclusion.

'This is what I needed! Although I didn't get any offensive techniques, if I practice how to cover my body and weapons with lightning, this might make me strong enough to buy me time to make use of [Boundless] and raise my status!'

With some concluding thoughts, I finally responded. (Although I had spent less than 10 seconds thinking because of my speed.) I had also made my mind up about how I would approach the situation.

"You don't have to say anything. I already know that the monkey man was hiding something and, from your statement, I'm guessing they told you to keep silent as well. Although I don't know why you have to hide what happened, I'm still glad you came here to see if I was alright."

'I assume my body started to absorb mana and sparked a little bit, as it got too much for me to handle I fainted. With my mana grade, it can't have been all that much, even if I [Overclocked] a sub-rank or two higher. As I can already guess what happened, I don't need to put James in a tight spot for no reason.'

With some extremely naive thoughts, I already believed myself to know the truth of the matter. Even though I had to some extent figured the situation out, I had no idea about the degree of the impact my outbreak had actually had.

And with that James finally got released from his shackles. With a cheerful expression and another bright smile, he looked happy again.

"You really are nice Miren... I'm happy we got to be in the same class. Let's both do our best during our years here together!

'You have only known me for two days?! Stop acting like I'm your long-lost childhood friend or something!

Inwardly retorting, I responded politely with a forced smile. Even if I was happy to have someone caring about me, it still felt a bit too much when this 'almost stranger' acted like he had known me for years.

"Yes, let's do our best..."